


Adventure Time Again

by clio_jlh



Series: Harvard-Radcliffe 'verse [3]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Male Character, Cold War, Espionage, Established Relationship, Humor, Jealousy, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-06
Updated: 2011-10-06
Packaged: 2017-10-24 09:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clio_jlh/pseuds/clio_jlh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay, so maybe the story of how Kirk and Spock teamed up to help Chekov defect makes McCoy a little jealous. It's not a big deal. Bones knows what's what. (Except for the part where he doesn't, and Jim has to <em>tell him</em>.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventure Time Again

**Author's Note:**

> A return to the Harvard AU set up by When the Game Ends, We'll Sing Again, in which Bones is a doctor and researcher, Jim was in the air force, and Scotty and Spock are both profs, and they all met as freshman roomates at Harvard, 1959. Takes place in 1978--between the third part and the epilogue.  
> I got irritable about writers not being responsible for what happens in their stories, and this is the result. Thanks to [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=canis_takahari)[**canis_takahari**](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=canis_takahari) for the encouragement!

June, 1978

The worst part is that Leonard _knows_ he's being ridiculous; that knowledge just makes him even more irritable.

See, the story of how Leonard's admittedly pretty great boyfriend, Brigadier General James T. Kirk (USAF, ret.), facilitated the defection of noted scientist Pavel Andreivich Chekov is a real rip-roarer. Jim accomplished a great deal during his fifteen years in the air force, most of which he either can't talk about (his time in the Soyuz) or wouldn't talk about around folks in San Francisco (his time in Saigon). But this story is public and doesn't betray any state secrets that weren't already in the original _New York Times_ story.

The problem for Leonard is that the story features a certain professor of philosophy and logic at Berkeley as Jim's primary contact and co-conspirator. Sure, Spock is a good friend—as is Scotty; the four of them are all close—but Leonard can't help but feel a little jealous that the story that Jim dines out on is about how cool and calm _Spock_ is under pressure.

Gaila and Scotty were over for dinner, their first time since Jim had left the service and come to San Francisco to be with Leonard. It was a good thing to have old and supportive friends when you were going through a life change. So when it turned out that Gaila had not actually heard the whole story, even though the story itself was a little over a year old now, Leonard absolutely did not, could not, begrudge Jim telling the story. He just didn't need to hear it.

So while Jim talked, Leonard cleared the dinner dishes.

"So I was in Stockholm," Jim says, "debriefing after being in the Soyuz for a while. Late one night I get this call from Spock, that some kid scientist at this conference in Helsinki sent him a code in a crossword puzzle that he wanted to defect. So I check into the name, then call him back in the morning and tell him to tell the kid to be ready to go the next day at noon—no bags, no nothing, just what he can put in his pockets."

"So much to give up!" Gaila said as Leonard took her plate.

"Kid didn't have much," Leonard said, trying not to run over Jim's story. "No family left, anyway. Everyone want coffee?" Leonard asked, and to the three nods he said, "Great!" and went back into the kitchen. A kitchen that was right next to the dining room, so he could still hear Jim, but at least he had something to distract him, and most importantly, Jim couldn't _see_ him, so he could silently mock as much as he wanted to.

"I go over to Helsinki," Jim continued, "with my right-hand, Sulu, the best pilot I've ever met and a hell of a driver too, and I have him park very near to the hotel where the conference is taking place. We're out of uniform, of course. And there's Spock in the lobby, sitting at the bar with the kid."

 _Very brave,_ (Leonard thinks) _to sit in a lobby at a conference. I've certainly never had the courage to do so._

"So I go right up to him, as though we're surprised to run into each other, and talk to the kid briefly."

"Wasn't there security?" Gaila asked. "KGB?"

"You bet, but they were hanging back. I'm just some dippy tourist, right? And Spock was cool as hell through the whole thing, like it was nothing, like he was running missions every day."

_Maybe he's actually leading a double life. Mild-mannered professor by day, superspy partner to Jim Kirk by night._

"Anyway so Spock gets on one side of the kid and I get on the other side, and we just walk out of the hotel."

Leonard came back into the dining room with forks and a bowl of whipped cream. "I'd say Chekov was a cool character too, Jim," Leonard said. "Since he was running for his _life_."

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Jim agreed. "He's pretty amazing all the way around. Really kept his head, and I haven't even gotten to the good part yet."

Leonard escaped back into the kitchen.

"So Sulu pulls up the car," Jim continued, "Spock and I throw the kid in the back and we take off."

_Quick on his feet, too, that Spock._

"Were you chased?" Gaila asked.

"You better believe it," Jim said. "And then the kid, he starts banging on Sulu's shoulder and telling him where to turn! We're trying to get the kid to keep his head down, and he's giving directions!"

Leonard sliced the apple tart, thinking about Spock's unspoken, preternatural ability to keep his head down.

"He'd been to Helsinki before?" Gaila asked Jim.

"Nope," Jim said. "The previous day he'd planned out the most direct route to the US Embassy, but he'd realized that he would never be able to make it on foot or by car before they noticed his absence. And damn if the kid wasn't right—we made it to the back entrance of the embassy in record time, and lost the KGB in the side streets along the way."

"Quite a kid, that Chekov, isn't he?" Leonard said as he came back into the room.

"He really is," Jim said, sitting up from his usual storytelling slouch and giving Leonard an odd, self-conscious glance. "Anyway, after that we got him out of the country, and Leonard was kind enough to provide a safe house while we debriefed, and last I heard Chekov was headed for MIT."

"An inferior school," Scotty said, shaking his head sadly, and they all laughed.

After they'd gone, Jim and Leonard were putting the last dishes into the dishwasher when Jim said, "I really don't have to tell that story anymore."

Leonard bit his lip. "I don't mind that you tell that story," he said.

"You can't lie to me, Bones," Jim said lightly.

"Okay," he replied. "I _shouldn't_ mind that you tell that story. I just—"

"I thought you liked Chekov," Jim said. "You seemed friendly enough when he was here."

"I do," Leonard said. "I like him just fine."

"Then why are you so irritable when I talk about him?" Jim asked. "And the sarcasm, I think, is pretty unfair. 'Chekov was a cool character too.' Seriously, Bones."

"I … wasn't being sarcastic."

"You were being emphatic, which is usually the same thing, with you."

Leonard slumped down in one of the kitchen stools, wondering how this had all gotten so far out of hand when he'd been trying so hard not to say anything.

"Maybe you shouldn't try," Jim said, and Leonard realized he'd said that last bit out loud. "Come on, Bones, you know you can tell me anything. You could before, and what are we doing here, if it means we lose that?"

Leonard sighed, slow and long. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was being uncharitable because I was jealous."

"Of Chekov, yeah, I got that," Jim said.

"No," Leonard said, scowling. "Not the kid. Geez."

Jim cocked his head. "Then why did you—"

"Of _Spock_ , okay?" Leonard jumped off the stool. "He got to have a whole little spy adventure with you! You two literally created an international incident!"

"Yeah, maybe, but—"

"And you go on and on about how he was such a _cool character_."

"I was just surprised—"

"Look I know I can be a hot head, I know I'm _emotional_ , I know I need to be _handled_ , and at least most of the time you do it pretty subtly so I can pretend you don't have to, and sure, we all take the good with the bad but sometimes when you tell that story I just wonder if you wish it was different." Leonard ran his finger along the edge of the counter, not wanting to look Jim in the eyes. Not daring, maybe.

"Are you done?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, I'm done."

"Can you look at me, please?"

"No?"

So of course Jim squatted down to force the matter. "Bones?"

Leonard turned to him. "Yeah," he said, feeling resigned.

"Okay, first, if you need to be handled, then so do I, and so does Scotty and Gaila and Spock and Nyota and Chris and Jan and everyone else we know. And yeah, you tell everyone what you're feeling all the time but that means I don't have to guess at what you're thinking and do you know how much effort that saves?"

"Yeah?"

"Second," Jim said, standing up straight now that Leonard was looking at him, "it always surprises me when an untrained civilian can stay calm in a stressful situation. Sure, Spock is cool nearly all the time but who knows what's going on in that head of his, ever? No one, not even Nyota."

"I suppose," Leonard said, but he felt like he could breathe again.

"Third, that story is about Chekov, not Spock. Chekov was brave, he got us to the embassy, he's really amazing. If I admire anyone in that story, it's him."

"Me too," Leonard said.

"Okay then. And finally, if you want to have adventures, why didn't you say? Nothing's stopping you from coming with me on my next trip for the foundation."

"But the clinic—"

"Can do without you for a couple of weeks," Jim said. "And hey, maybe you can bring some ideas back to them."

"Well, I reckon," Leonard said.

Jim stepped closer, putting his hands on Leonard's waist. "We had adventures in Europe, right? We just didn't make the news."

"Thank goodness," Leonard said, smiling a little.

Jim grinned back. "And in my book, this whole finally being with each other thing? Biggest adventure I've ever been on."

"I guess that's true," Leonard said, and his hands settled in the small of Jim's back.

"You guess?" Jim asked, leaning back. "I waited for you for twenty years! I think that's long enough to know what I want."

"You're right," Leonard replied. "I'm sorry, Jim. I know this was childish of me."

"Just, next time, tell me. What hurt was not knowing what you were thinking."

"I will, Jim."

"But the jealousy, honestly? It's kind of nice, your feeling a little territorial about me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, it was a turn-on," Jim said, getting a little closer, until their foreheads touched. "Staking your claim."

"I'll stake my claim in your _ass_ ," Leonard said, his voice a little growly, and grabbed Jim's behind to make his point.

"Mmm," Jim said, "then what are we waiting for? Adventure awaits!" He turned and headed for the stairs. "Coming?"

"Yeah, Jim," Leonard said, hitting the light. "I'm right behind you."


End file.
